A healthy amount of '14 tax credits

Updated 9:23 pm, Thursday, April 11, 2013

Nearly 170,000 Bexar County residents will be potentially eligible next year for new tax credits to help pay health insurance premiums, according to a report released Thursday by a national nonprofit.

Families USA, a health-care consumer organization, concluded almost 2.6 million Texans statewide would meet the criteria for such help.

The new provision under the Affordable Care Act — which will require most Americans to have health insurance — is expected to make private coverage more affordable to some of those previously uninsured.

The report's projections are based on an assumption that Medicaid expansion will occur in Texas — something that Gov. Rick Perry so far has refused to do. Expanding Medicaid would yield more federal dollars, but Perry has cited concerns about how the move will impact the state budget.

Without Medicaid expansion, the number of people eligible for tax credits will soar even higher with an additional 422,000 Texans qualifying for the benefit statewide, said Congressman Lloyd Doggett, whose district includes San Antonio and Austin.

The new tax credits will provide economic security to families earning moderate to mid-level incomes, said Congressman Pete Gallego, who represents an area extending from Bexar County to El Paso County.

“They're for people who don't qualify for the traditional public programs,” Gallego said Thursday. “They're for people who are having trouble buying insurance in the private market. These are typically the families where folks are working, sometimes more than one job.

“For me, it's important because Texans' tax dollars will come back to Texas and flow into the private market. And that helps families and that helps our economy.”

The subsidies will generally be available to uninsured Texans earning between 138 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level. An individual earning between $15,860 and $45,960 will qualify, while a family of four with an annual income between $32,500 and $94,200 also will be eligible, according to Families USA's report.

Harris County has the largest number of residents eligible for the premium tax credits, while Bexar County has the third highest number in the state.

Online and telephone enrollment for the tax credits begins Oct. 1 and lasts through March 31. Subsidies will take effect Jan. 1 for those who enroll this year.

While the report projects 2.6 million Texans will be eligible for the tax credits, there's no way of knowing how many will actually enroll.

“I think it really points to how incredibly important it is for Texas to have a strong outreach program and consumer assistance program to help Texans understand the new coverage choices they're going to have — and how they apply and how they enroll,” said Anne Dunkelberg, associate director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a policy institute based in Austin.

Low-income Texans who qualify for Medicaid benefits will not be eligible to receive the tax credits.

The report projects the majority of Texans eligible for the tax credits — 88 percent — will be in working families in which at least one breadwinner is employed full-time or part-time. That number is virtually the same for Bexar County and Harris County.

Statewide, nearly half of those who qualify for the new benefit will be Hispanic, the report states. In Bexar County, that number jumps to 71 percent.